Monday, February 23, 2015

A Boy and a Jaguar is an autobiographical picture book about and by wildlife conservationist Alan Rabinowitz. In it, he tells how his stuttering as a child led to his passion to protect jaguars and other animals. This book won the 2015 American Library Association Schneider Family Book Award in the children's category "for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences." Catia Chien's acrylic and charcoal pencil illustrations help the reader feel the enormity of the isolation Rabinowitz sometimes felt as a child, as well as the possibilities of the huge forests and jungles he finds so rewarding as an adult. Rabinowitz's book will be inspiring for any children who stutter (and their friends, families, and classmates).

The Day the Crayons Quit was recently announced as the 2015 winner of the Texas Bluebonnet Award, a children's choice award by students in grades 3-6 in my state. This hilarious fantasy by debut book author Drew Daywalt (who has lots of experience in film writing and directing) has the crayons in the box on strike and writing letters to their owner about their various complaints. Oliver Jeffers' whimsical illustrations incorporate crayons (of course!) as well as mixed media. This book would be a great mentor text for a lesson on letter-writing.